"Giving poor and vulnerable people secure and equitable rights to access land and other natural resources is a key condition in the fight against hunger and poverty", said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva in his speech at today's special session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) at FAO headquarters in Rome, where 124 member states ceremoniously adopted the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Land Tenure.

"It is a historic breakthrough that countries have agreed on these first-ever global land tenure guidelines", announced the Director-General. The Voluntary Guidelines contribute to responsible resource management: they provide a guide for countries as to how they may retain land and other resources under state ownership through the adoption of suitable regulations.

Over recent years, there has been a steep increase in global demand for farmland in both the private and public sector. Between 2011 and 2011, over 227 million hectares of land worldwide were sold or leased long-term, primarily to foreign investors. The total area of farmland that changed hands is significantly more than the total area of agricultural land within the European Union, 183.8 million hectares. The governments of the more affluent states, as well as groups of private investors, banks and other financial institutions are behind the largest deals, often of the order of millions of hectares. Speculative interests are often behind the purchase of land, although it may also happen for strategic reasons, serving the establishment of national food security. In developing countries, over one billion people have no officially registered rights to the land they cultivate. These people are totally defenceless against the often large-scale forced evictions that are the result of large land deals.

Representing non-governmental organisations at the meeting, a farmer from Argentina explained that several million hectares of forest had been destroyed in his country to make room for the cultivation of GMO Soya. He sees the new decision as providing hope that destruction of the remainder of the rain forest may cease.

The primary objective of the proposal package entitled "Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security" is to provide governments with tools with which decision-makers are able to keep track with developments in the field of responsible land tenure policy, fisheries and forest management.

Work on the proposal package began following the 2008-2009 global food crisis. In addition to FAO member states, non-governmental organisations, farmers' associations, delegates from other UN organisations, and representatives from the private sector also took part in the international discussion process. The development and adoption of the joint European Union standpoint on the proposed text of the Voluntary Guidelines was conducted under the coordination of the Hungarian Presidency of the EU. Hungary later continued to play an active part in conciliating various regional standpoints on the issue.

The principles of the document are in harmony with the objectives of Hungary's agriculture policy. Thanks to the currently valid land purchase freeze, foreign individuals and businesses are unable to purchase Hungarian farmland. However, these restrictions will expire on May 1 2014, so it is vital that by that time a new or the amended Land Act should provide a suitable legal framework to keep farmland under national ownership.

The adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines is the first milestone in the regulation of global competition for farmland. Now it's time for the FAO and its member states to begin the practical implementation of these guidelines.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)